Unhappy with a Gap in Your Smile? 5 Ways to Cope

Many of us have a gap in our smile. Technically known as a diastema, this can make you very self-conscious about your appearance. But if you’re finding that you are having a hard time living with your smile gap, here are five things that can make you happy about your smile again.

Embrace It

It’s always a good idea to try to love yourself the way you are before deciding to make any changes in your smile. This isn’t just easier, it’s less expensive. It might also be more popular among friends and family who already love your smile the way it is.

And you certainly won’t be the only one who has a gap in your smile. Although uncommon, there are even many famous celebrities who have pronounced gaps in their smile. For example, Ray Mala had a gap in his smile when he played his most iconic role in Eskimo. And there are many iconic celebrities with prominent smile gaps like Anna Paquin, Madonna, Samuel L. Jackson, and David Letterman.

Of course, not everyone feels comfortable with their smile gap, no matter how hard they try.

Six Month Smiles

In the past, traditional braces could take a year or more to fix something as simple as a smile gap, but recent innovations mean that you can get a gap in your smile corrected in about six months, thanks to Six Month Smiles, a smarter approach to braces.

Six Month Smiles is not only a faster way to use braces, it’s also more attractive and convenient. The brackets and wires are very subtle–few people will notice them. And the computerized algorithm helps streamline the process so that each tightening visit is faster and easier.

Invisalign

Another approach to orthodontics is using clear aligners to close the gap in your smile. Invisalign is a great innovation because it is an effective straightening approach that uses removable appliances rather than ones bonded to your teeth. This means that your diet isn’t restricted and it’s much easier to clean your teeth than it is with traditional braces.

Now Invisalign is faster than ever, allowing many people to get results in half the time as in the past.

Dental Bonding

However, you don’t have to move your teeth to close the gap in your smile. Instead, you can reshape your teeth so that they fill in the space. Dental bonding is the most straightforward way to reshape your teeth.

Dental bonding uses the same composite material used for tooth-colored fillings. By widening your front teeth, we can easily close your smile gap in just one visit–and bonding is relatively inexpensive.

Veneers

Veneers are ceramic restorations that give us more power to reshape your teeth. Veneers are thin fronts of advanced ceramic materials that we can bond to the front of your teeth. These have many benefits over dental bonding. First, it’s easier for us to reshape multiple teeth in the front of your smile so they can stay proportionate–you don’t just have two big teeth in the middle. Second, veneers are stronger and stain resistant, which is why they can last 10-20 years, while bonding may only last 3-5.

The main limitations of veneers are that they are expensive and they take more than one visit to complete.

Deal with Your smile Gap in Anchorage

If you’ve decided that you’re unhappy with the appearance of your smile and you want to do something about the gap between your teeth, we can help. Please call (907) 274-7691 today for an appointment with an Anchorage cosmetic dentist at Denali Dental Care.